VERSION TWO LOW CARB GROCERY LIST:

VERSION TWO LOW CARB GROCERY LIST:

Proteins
- fresh nuts, seeds, and nut/seed butters (snacks and nut butter wraps and sauces), a cup or so of each. You won’t need to buy these every week.

- fresh hummus, about a cup a week

- soybeans in whatever form looks good that week (about a pound of tofu, tempeh, edamame). If you like them, you could also include soybean burgers, soymilk and cheeses made from soymilk if you don’t do dairy.

- full fat dairy if you can tolerate dairy:
– full fat ricotta, a pound per week (shakes, puddings, baked ricotta)
– hard cheeses (swiss, smoked gouda, cheddar cheese curds, parmesan)
– 2 quarts of plain, unsweetened kefir
– a pint of half and half (a quart if I’m going to make a custard)
You could also pick up dry curd cottage cheese, plain unsweetened yogurt, cottage cheese, anything else in the dairy case that is unsweetened and catches your fancy.

- eggs, usually a half-dozen a week (more if I’m making a custard or pancakes)

- one to two lbs. of fish per week, in half-pound amounts of three or four different kinds (scallops, clams, mussels, oysters, tilapia, salmon, and sometimes salt cod or smoked herring)

- if you are eating chicken, I’d get around a pound or two per week per person; you’re not going to get all your protein from chicken, but if a particular piece (chicken breasts) was on sale at an unbeatable price, I’d stock up and freeze at least half.

Figure that you’re going to need at least a pound of fresh protein of some sort, per person, per day, to get 80-100g of protein (just a guess at your minimum protein requirement–it could be higher but likely won’t be much lower than 80 grams.)

Fresh Fruits/vegetables
- some type of fresh dark leafy greens to last at least 3-4 days, usually about a pound (spinach, chard, kale, collards)
- cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes which are fresh year round; larger tomatoes in summer when they’re local and fresh
- mushrooms, about a half pound of crimini, Italian brown or basic white (for salads, omelets, gravies, soups)
Then I look to see what else is good–avocados, cabbage, zucchini, spaghetti squash, melons, winter squash, cauliflower. If you can eat asparagus, broccoli, green or wax beans–go for it! In the winter (right now, CNY is in winter) I will buy frozen veggies and frozen bags of either unsweetened strawberries, mixed berries or melon pieces to use with ricotta for snacks, in shakes, for sauces, etc.) I will also buy ruby red grapefruits, lemons, limes and oranges at this time of year for sauces, and to snack on the grapefruit (one grapefruit = about 4 servings). But I keep greens, tomatoes, mushrooms and lemons in the house all the time. I also pick up garlic, onions (green, red and yellow), a sweet potato and a couple small red or yellow potatoes every couple weeks or as needed. However, I’m in maintenance/slow weight loss at the moment–if potatoes are a trigger food for you, skip them.

Always in the pantry
- unsweetened, low carb vanilla whey protein powder
- Isopure low carb chocolate whey protein powder
- extra virgin olive oil
- butter
- coconut oil
- small quantities of whole lentils, black-eyed peas, garbanzo beans
- dry or canned black soybeans (cook the dried ones in a crockpot, and freeze them if you can’t get the Eden Organic canned ones in your area)
- almond flour (for muffins, biscuits, pancakes)
- good spices: choose the things you like, and make sure they’re fresh
- vital wheat gluten
- whole rolled oats
- whole wheat pasta (remember, I’m in maintenance–mainly, I use spaghetti squash or cooked greens as my vehicles for sauces. )
- some type of low carb wrap or pita bread, usually whole wheat and always under 7g ECC per serving
- canned seafoods (tuna, salmon, mussels, oysters, clams)
- seafood in pouches (tuna, salmon)
- organic unsweetened peanut butter
- organic unsweetened jam or fruit puree (something that’s 6g ECC per tablespoon)